


Twelve Red Roses

by macpetreshock



Category: British Actor RPF, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom, Tom Hiddleston Fandom, Tom Hiddleston RPF, tom hiddleston - RPF
Genre: Actor Tom Hiddleston, Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Bittersweet Ending, Character Death, Death, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Loss, Love, Marriage, One Shot, RPF, Romance, Romantic Angst, Sad, Sad Ending, Short, Short One Shot, Tragedy, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-02 03:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6549160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/macpetreshock/pseuds/macpetreshock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One red rose for every anniversary. Tom started with their first anniversary, and nothing will prevent him from continuing every year... until death do they part.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twelve Red Roses

**Author's Note:**

> Grab your tissues... Romance. Angst. Tom. FEELS.

**TWELVE RED ROSES**

 

 

Taking one last look in the car mirror, Tom set his tie to rights, finger combed his hair, and finally picked up the bouquet of red roses from the passenger seat. To be sure, he counted them again, satisfied when he found there were indeed twelve. He’d given her roses to mark each wedding anniversary from their first and couldn’t very well show up with less than the full dozen on their twelfth.

The London rain hadn’t let up for the last week, seemingly a constant torrential downpour, but he knew she’d still be there waiting for him just as she had been the previous three years, rain or shine. Of course Tom wouldn’t let her down. He never could, not since he’d laid eyes on her in that Cambridge lecture hall all those years ago, long before he was _the_ Tom Hiddleston, before he was anyone important to anyone other than his family and friends… and her soon after that day.

He left the car, not bothering to shield himself from the weather. Being with her on their anniversary was far more important than consideration of rain or potentially ruining a designer suit. None of it mattered more than her, not to him.

“Hello, darling. Sorry I’m so late today, but traffic was bloody awful coming from the airport… My flight was good though.” Tom knelt on the ground at her feet, smiling, sure he felt her smiling down on him as well. “I’ve missed you so much with all this travel and promo work… I always think about you and wish you were with me… I suppose you are in a way. You always are. You always will be.”

Tom moved to sit on the ground beside her headstone, setting aside the last flowers he’d brought and refilling the vase with the dozen fresh red roses before running his hand over the engraving as the raindrops slid down the smooth, white marble.

 

**FAITH MARIE HIDDLESTON**

_BELOVED WIFE_

11 June, 1981 – 2 January, 2013

 

“Happy anniversary, love,” Tom said in a false-cheerful voice, tears now joining the rain gracing his cheeks. “Another year passed, and my heart remains faithfully yours… Perhaps the ‘till death do you part’ vow means both our deaths… Yours hasn’t changed a thing for me. I still love you as much as ever, sometimes even more on the bad days… and nights.”

For a while, he sat silently, absentmindedly twisting his wedding ring as he often did when Faith was on his mind. Eventually, he fell into their usual one-sided conversation, telling his wife about his travels and anything else of interest he’d done since last visiting her grave.

Rain had never bothered Tom after meeting Faith. Faith loved the rain. He’d proposed to her in the rain like something out of a romantic film and married her on a rainy day.

To those who knew Tom and Faith best, it seemed only fitting when a passerby found him lying on Faith’s grave, his cold fingers pressed against the marble, raindrops still falling from the petals of the twelve red roses onto his head, finally resting at peace with the woman he loved with every beat of his heart, not even to part in death.

**Author's Note:**

> I should apologize for writing this rather than updating my other works, but just when I thought I'd be getting back into the swing of writing after my kids were on spring break, we experienced a very sudden and tragic death that put me in the frame of mind to write this instead of anything happy. :'(


End file.
